*Elder Hatch returns home from his mission the last week of February and he will report on his mission on March 10th. More details will be posted as it gets closer.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

1/1/2013

Family!!!

Wow, it's so nuts to be back in the real missionary world! And now i only have an hour to email, so my letters are going to be shorter, because i need to send pics, too! Here it goes:

My new area, here in Cajamarca, is huge. Our ward is really rich (compared to others) and for the first two weeks, we couldn't find any of our investigators because they're all travelling.. And one of the best investigator families we have just went on a trip for a month :( But oh well, we've found some awesome new investigators. One, in particular, is such a blessing! Here's the story:

We were doing divisions, i had been in the area for like a week, and still didn't know my way around too well. We were looking for some less active members with the directory and were lost. We asked a guy in the street if he could help us, and he ended up inviting us into his house to teach him. He has all the desires in the world to repent, change his life (he's had lots of family problems in the past) and join the church!!! You don't find that kind of person by chance. I know the Lord put him in our path that day and that he is so prepared for the gospel right now!!! His name is Cresencio Torres. Champion of champions. We also have a few other families. One that works in a bakery and another that makes suits. It's really hard to get them in a calm hour when we can teach them.

I love being in the real missionary world again, working all day knocking doors, and walking a ton and just being completely in my area. The office was great, and i learned SO much, but nothing is like the experiences you have every day working in the field. Another blessing is not being any kind of leader. It's been like a year and a half since i didn't have a responsibility.

We skyped from a member lady's office. Christmas we had p-day, because everyone's drunk, today too, sorry for not telling you i wasn't going to write yesterday. But we just hung out with the district and visited members. Today we went to a waterfall that's like an hour away from here, and it was super fun! The town is basically dead,nobody is in the streets because they're all drunk and sleeping in their houses! Great way to jump into the new year! This morning we were walking to our pension and a super drunk guy was stumbling down the middle of a kind of busy road! After a minute of watching him almost die like six times, we decided to help him off the road. He told us he wanted to die, and i said no, you don't want to die, you're just drunk! He looked at me really seriously and said i'm not drunk, i'm fine. Then a few minutes later, in spite of our attempts to help him, he wandered back onto the road into oncoming traffic... great guy. I hope he made it home okay.

This week for a day i went to another area called baños del inca on exchanges, i worked in a farm in the morning and found out i can relate pretty well with cows- they didn't let the other missionaries get too close, but they loved me. While i was petting one another one came up to me so i would pet it too.

It has been raining all week- i love it so much! Almost two years without rain, i was super ready for a change. The food here is different too. The bread is more rustic and so good, and the cheese is to die for. I'm thinking of buying a lot here in the mountains and coming back to retire :)

Ooh, another great story. So, when i got here to the area our room was way too small and moldy, but we moved downstairs to the second floor to a much better room. One day i forgot the keys to the second floor room, and we were locked out. The owner of the house wasn't there, and the people who live below us wouldn't let us try to climb up in the elevator shaft type thing, so elder Giraldo dangled me down to the second floor from the third floor and i got into an open window. It was so scary! I was imagining newspaper headlines of a dead gringo... But it turned out ok, i only scratched my hand, and i learned my lesson and don't forget the keys anymore.

I gave a talk in church on sunday too! I'm busy, happy, and super excited to work as hard and as best as i can my last two months! I love you!

Elder Hatch

on the stairs to santa apolonia- classic peruvian mountain man and woman in the foregroundMe and elder Andersen, one of my zone leaders, being funny at Yacanora!

having fun in the guard posts in santa apoloniahere's my lunch today.... yummy.